Leg 4: Imrang Beach to Jinha Beach

Dear Busan:

I thought I could get the bad taste out of my mouth by just continuing on with the fourth leg of the trail right after finishing the third leg. As you recall, I was truly depressed by the seemingly endless expanse of concrete along the water passing by a seemingly endless string of seafood catch and eat places. I thought maybe it would end after the fifteen or so kilometres of them during the third leg. I thought that surely they couldn't go on much longer.

I guess I should have been a little more specific in my wishes. For at the end of town, I got to walk past a nuclear power plant and possibly a coal generation plant, although I'm not quite sure.

Now to be fair, I think I took a wrong turn. The map seemed to suggest that I was to go away from the shore for a little while and be away from the nuclear power plant. But I think, Busan, that you must have realized that you had little to offer hikers after the splendour of the first leg and a half. And you gave up. You decided that hikers could find their own way through the fourth leg. We didn't need clear markers pointing the way at crossroads and forks in the road. I want to believe that they were there and that I just didn't see them, but they certainly weren't obvious. And so I ended up walking along a busy road, trying to rejoin the trail farther on... and watching a nuclear power station pass on my right, blocking any interesting views of the ocean.

I was very disappointed, Busan. I want you to understand this. And then, just to put some kind of period on it all, you sent me past yet another concreted row of catch-and-eat fish places. All in all, I think that much of the third and fourth legs were unnecessary. There were certainly forested mountains just to the west of the shore. You might have sent the trail there instead. It's all right to do that. Really. But if you weren't willing to do that, I would have been just as happy being told what bus to take to get from Kijang to Ganjeolgot Lighthouse.

That lighthouse, although they don't seem to really understand how sunrise works, was very picturesque and nice. There was even a giant mailbox. But most of all, there was nature and seascapes and the setting befitting what I think an east coast hiking trail is supposed to have.

Consider it, Busan. Seriously. Because despite having been on sections of the Haeparang Trail farther north, and knowing the kind of views and nature that awaits, these two legs had me seriously questioning whether I really wanted to continue or not.

Sincerely,

An even more disgruntled hiker.

Now, it wasn't all bad. Once I did reach the area with the lighthouse, it did get really quite nice. The remainder of the hike into Jinha Beach was really very nice. It was getting into dark by then so I didn't get to take any further photos. I highly recommend the final four or five kilometres of the fourth leg.

But really. I mean this. Unless you are some sort of purist who had to hike the whole of something to say you have done it, you can take a bus from Daebyeonhang to Ganjeolgot Lighthouse and really not miss much. It's mostly concrete and fish places with a couple of dismal beaches thrown into the mix.  And for every sight like this:

you would look to the left or right and see something like this:

(psst... that's the nuclear power plant again...)

And then there is this sad reminder of Korea's propensity for trademark infringement.  This is one of the more blatant ones I have seen in a long time.

All in all, the day was really a lot like this:

(the promise of something big, but then a let-down in the reality)

But have no fear, the next leg ended up being a whole lot better for most of the way.  Things are looking up in the Ulsan area.